In This House of Brede in Retro Reads

Dec 05, 2020 Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-classics

4.5★

A Goodreads friend (Barb) said about Rumer Godden that she never wrote the same book twice.

I very much agree with this sentiment! Godden is a gifted writer with a fantastic imagination, who seems to go where the story takes her.

So I was expecting this to be Phillipa's Story, a middle aged career woman who found a vocation &, after giving away all her possessions, joins a Benedictine monastery.

But this story is much more than that and details the lives and often very human frailties of the nu ...more

45 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2016 Kavan rated it it was amazing

Robert Ebert once began a review of the film Chariots of Fire by saying that he did not know why he enjoyed the film so much as he was neither British or a particular fan of exercise. I found myself in a similar quandary while reading In This House of Brede. I am neither Catholic, nor British and yet I found myself utterly transfixed by Rumer Godden’s tale of a community of cloistered Benedictine nuns. Each evening when I opened the book I felt utterly transported to another world, and its one I Robert Ebert once began a review of the film Chariots of Fire by saying that he did not know why he enjoyed the film so much as he was neither British or a particular fan of exercise. I found myself in a similar quandary while reading In This House of Brede. I am neither Catholic, nor British and yet I found myself utterly transfixed by Rumer Godden’s tale of a community of cloistered Benedictine nuns. Each evening when I opened the book I felt utterly transported to another world, and its one I’m rather sad to have exited.

Philippa Talbot, the novel’s ostensible protagonist, is a successful career woman who seems to have it all. Yet, she is leaving behind a position of power, and a man who loves her to join a nunnery. She arrives at the front door of professing her desire, “To try my vocation as a Benedictian in this House of Brede.” Godden’s novel follows her journey over the next decade. However, while Philippa is a fascinating character in a sense she’s a conduit, our way of peering into a community of fascinating women.

And each specific nun has a very particular personality which allows Godden to explore various themes. Above all, as others have pointed out The House of Brede excels at showing just how difficult it is to lead a contemplative life. The nuns are constantly being affected and reacting to outside forces. These women are attempting to lead a contemplative life but their problems follow them to Brede. Likewise, Godden shows how even the good nuns are still subject to sin, misdeeds and ill thoughts.

Godden grounds the narrative in the day to day business, and seasonal activities of the Nuns. We watch Philippa as a sister and later as a dame in a variety of occupations. Philippa believes she can leave behind the power and decision making of the world. Gooden contrasts Talbot’s decision to forgo authority, with new Abbess Catherine who must take on the cloak of decision making with her new role. As Philippa learns to let go of her burdens, likewise the Abbess must learn to take up hers and struggles with how to balance decisions and roles in the house. Nuns are moved around like chess pieces, all to supplement deficits in their own characters and or to help them learn things about themselves. This is not a novel where faith is a finished belief. Indeed, the novel shows self-examination and self-recrimination to be a daily burden for even the best of Nuns.

And as the years pass the nun’s make mistakes, cling to false figures and sometimes behave against their best instincts. That is to a degree the power of the novel. Godden shows us how even our best impulses sometimes fail, she also argues that sometimes being right is less important than being kind. And after difficulty, anguish and struggle Philippa finally absorbs the lesson.

This is a marvelous book that allows you to ask hard questions of your own behavior and choices. I will not soon forget the women who occupied The House of Brede. ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2019 Moonkiszt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: surprised-me, dontgetcomfy_changeispermanent, learned_me, new-interesting-facts, ending-satisfies, spiritual-connection, re-readable, gutsy-gals, mademecry, comin-of-age

Life choices. . .

This book, topic and author have come to me by way of a question in Facebook about a book I read as a very small child that had no cover and was missing anything that had a name on it. A suggestion from a stranger lead next to goodreads reviews and replies and off to the library app that sent a book to kindle. . .the journey has been a happy surprise. I will read more of this author.

This is a book about a professional woman who comes to a crossroads and chooses a monastic life ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Apr 19, 2021 LeahBethany rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved In This House of Brede. I was afraid the novel might be boring or dry but from the first pages it held my attention and I was drawn into the lives of these contemplative nuns. A beautiful story about hope, endurance, suffering, prayer and love.

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2015 Susan Chapek rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-it-to-shreds, favorite-authors, favorites

I've reread this book (Mom's copy, and I can tell from the "edition" of her bookplate that she bought it second-hand in the 1990's) four or five times. But I also take it up on days when I'm distracted by deadlines or headlines, or when I the new book I'm reading isn't wonderful enough to prop up beside my lunch.

I can open at random and re-read an episode for the pure pleasure of great writing. And to fulfill the same wish that makes me re-read books as diverse as The Good Soldier, The Scapegoa ...more

1 like · Like · see review